‘The Walking Dead’ Review: “Killer Within”

‘The Walking Dead’ season 3 brings to life its fourth episode of the season, as Rick and the other survivors find themselves divided when an unseen presence releases numerous walkers in to the prison, while Merle presents the Governor with a request and Andrea begins having doubts about leaving.

Last week’s ‘The Walking Dead’ episode “Walk With Me” saw Andrea and Michonne happening upon a seemingly idyllic community run by the charismatic Governor (David Morrissey) and a very-much living Merle (Michael Rooker), who have much darker secrets and purposes in studying the zombies than they let on, so what will the latest episode bring?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘The Walking Dead’ season 3 episode 4, “Killer Within!”

Outside the prison, a mysterious figure drags a dead deer through the fence, arranging its corpse to distract some local walkers. With the ghouls occupied, the figure cuts through a padlocked gate with an axe, and leaves the deer’s heart for the creatures to find. Who could it be?

The group moves their cars away from the prison gate (except for Glenn and Maggie, getting’ busy in the guard tower), when T-Dog notices the two prisoners Axel and Oscar approaching. Rick angrily confronts them for breaking their agreement, but Axel pleads that they can’t live alone in the cell block, and wish to join their group. Rick discusses the matter with Carol, Maggie, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl, but ultimately decides against trusting the men.

Meanwhile in Woodbury, Michonne inspects the recovered National Guard trucks to find bullet holes and blood stains, and winds up caught by the Governor. Michonne makes implications that the Governor’s story has odor do it, but the Woodbury leader covers his tracks, and even tries to recruit her from leaving the town. Later, she plots with Andrea their route after leaving the town, but Andrea remains uncertain that they’ll fare any better out on the road.

Back at the prison, the prisoners continue trying to ingratiate themselves, while inside Lori helps an eager Hershel onto his new crutches for the first time. The others watch from the gates with pride as Lori, Carl and Beth lead Hershel out into the prison yard, when all of a sudden dozens of walkers appear behind Carl! The group scrambles to take out some, while fleeing others, all the while Rick racing through the gates to protect his family. Hershel and Beth manage to sequester themselves in a stairwell, while Maggie, Carl and Lori retreat inside, and T-Dog takes a bite to the shoulder trying to protect Carol. O noes!

Meanwhile in Woodbury, Andrea provides Merle with a map to the farmhouse in hopes of finding his brother, and in between dodging the man’s sleazy flirting, asks his opinion on the Governor. Not believing himself to have been worth saving, he assures her that he believes in the man, and reminds her that Rick’s group were the ones to leave behind both of them.

While Rick and the others try to regroup, the prison sirens begin to blare, proving that neither Axel nor Oscar couldn’t have been the ones to cause any of the chaos. Oscar vows to lead them to the generator, while inside a bleeding T-Dog tries to protect Carol, and Lori begins to feel pregnancy pains while fleeing the walkers! Looks like the baby’s coming!

While the Governor amuses himself with a round of golf, Merle pays a visit asking for permission to search for his brother. Not wanting to lose his most loyal man, the Governor declines his request, but assures him that if he finds more evidence than Daryl’s whereabouts eight months ago, he’ll accompany Merle himself to find him.

While Rick and the others race through the prison, Lori, Carl and Maggie manage to hide themselves, and prepare to deliver the baby. Maggie begs Lori to stop pushing when she sees an ominous amount of blood, while nearby, T-Dog sacrifices himself to some nearby walkers in order to allow Carol time to escape. Pour one out for T-Dog, y’all.

Andrea shares drinks with the Governor, discussing Merle’s plan, her own doubts about leaving Woodbury, and their mutual losses, as the man assures her she has a place in Woodbury, if she wishes. Even more than that, he offers up his real name on her way out: Philip! Afterward, Andrea petitions Michonne to stay at least another day, though Michonne seems none too pleased with the idea.

Back at the prison, Rick and his group finally find the generator room and shut down the sirens, only for a very much still-living Andrew to emerge from the shadows and swing at Rick with an axe! The two struggle against one another, and the fight comes to an end when Oscar happens upon Rick’s gun. Andrew petitions Oscar to shoot Rick in the interest of taking back the prison, but Oscar instead kills Andrew, and compliantly returns the gun to Rick.

Knowing that they won’t be able to make it out of the room to deliver the baby properly, Lori insists that Maggie cut her open to retrieve the child, even at the cost of her life. After saying her tender goodbyes to her son, Lori screams as Maggie cuts into her old C-section scar, and retrieves the seemingly still baby. Lori breathes her last and slips away, as the baby sputters to life. Knowing they can’t leave her dead body, Carl resolves to do the deed himself, and remembers Rick’s earlier words about needing to grow up and make hard choices, before finally putting a pullet into his mother.

On their way outside, Rick and the others find T-Dog’s dead body and Carol’s head scarf, before regrouping with Hershel and Beth outside. With Carol nowhere to be found, Rick hears the cry of a baby as Carl and Maggie emerge from indoors, clutching the baby to her chest. As the revelation of Lori’s fate dawns on Rick, compounded by what his son must have had to do, he breaks down sobbing in the prison yard.

Wow. Just wow. Hearbreaking and tense as we found "Killer Within" to be, we expect this to be one of the most hotly-debated of 'The Walking Dead' episodes, killing off both a majorly polarizing character (with a much more tragic death in the comics), as well as an under-developed character like T-Dog. Don't get us wrong, we're impressed that the current season of 'The Walkign Dead' would jab a knife into viewers' guts so quickly, but we have to wonder if the right moves were made here. At best, the episode certainly delivered, and left us hungry for more.

Did you get your fill of thrilling zombie killing? What did you think about the episode? Check out all our other ‘Walking Dead’ season 3 coverage, and join us next week for an all-new episode recap of ‘The Walking Dead’ season 3 episode 5 “Say the Word” on AMC!